Sankalp Kelshikar and Saransh Garg, fresh recruits at top management consulting firms provide detailed solutions to 32 of the best cases they came across during their case interview preparation. The solved solutions replicate actual interviewer-candidate conversations and provide a benchmark to compare with, while highlighting key insights often missed by candidates.

Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock.
Well in the House of Lords I am sure they found the rock.
The House of Lords EU Sub-Committee on Economic and Financial Affairs, has published its report looking at EU proposals for rescuing failing banks, describing them as inadequately funded, overly complicated and politically unrealistic.
Some of the ...

What is Basel III super-equivalent?
My definition: Using Basel III as an excuse and imposing requirements beyond what is required by Basel III (like stricter interpretations, national options and discretions, and front-running).
We also call it "gold plating".
What Governor Daniel K. Tarullo said:
"The proposed LCR we review today is "super-equivalent" to the Basel Committee's LCR standard...

I found this approach interesting:
"The Basel III rules which provide that capital ratios have to be raised.
Yet, in my opinion, extra rules cannot solve all of our problems.
For every new rule will lead to creative solutions to evade that rule.
By making new rules, we won't make bankers less greedy, nor will we make them more ethical.
Instead of overregulating every detail ...

The Steering Committee of the EU-U.S. Dialogue Project will host a public event on Saturday, 14 December 2013 ahead of the NAIC Fall National Meeting in Washington, D.C.
The event will be held at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
The purpose of the public event is to launch the initiatives set out in the EU-U.S. Dialogue Project.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released its second progress report on its interim inspection program for auditors of brokers and dealers, covering the audit deficiencies and independence findings identified in inspections performed from March 2012 to December 2012.
For this report, PCAOB inspectors reviewed 43 audit firms covering portions of 60 audits of brokers and dealers ...

Every time I read that banks must start 'ring-fencing' their retail operations so that they will be able to fail without endangering depositors, I remember the cold war, especially the Berlin wall.
Yes, I am an old man (born in 1959). Yes, I am feeling well.
No, there is "no doubt as to the person's state of mind" (at the time of writing this newsletter).
First, we read about the need ...

What is shadow banking?
We have some great answers from Europe, important answers. Although shadow banking assets have decreased slightly since 2008, the global figure in 2011 was €51 trillion.
"Shadow banking can be defined as a system of credit intermediation that involves entities and activities outside the regular banking system.
Shadow banks are not regulated like banks, though ...

This is an interesting graph that illustrates the degree and significance of interconnectedness among the market participants in Luxemburg.
Look at the linkages between the banking sector and investment funds at Number 4 below.
The application of network analysis techniques enables linkages between different sectoral components to become visible;